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Torture and death of 13-year-old sends shock through Syria’s revolution

When the images of protest, death and destruction become overwhelming, it sometimes takes one horrendous case to spark worldwide outrage.

That anger in Syria is now the battered face of Hamza al-Khateeb.

Syrian children carry pictures of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib and hold candles during a protest in front of the United Nations building in Beirut June 1, 2011. (JAMAL SAIDI / REUTERS)

Hamza Ali al-Khateeb, 13, who was brutally tortured and killed after participating in a protest, has become a symbol of Syrian president Bashir Assad's violent suppression. The boy disappeared April 29, his whereabouts unknown until his body was returned to his family last week.

The pudgy-cheeked 13-year-old — who was reportedly arrested, tortured and killed in custody — has become a symbol of the violent suppression of protesters by Syrian President Basher Assad’s regime and a potential tipping point after 12 weeks of bloodshed.

Hamza went missing after a protest in the southern Syrian village of Jiza on April 29, and until his body was returned to his family Friday, his whereabouts were unknown. Activists said he was tortured and killed by Syria’s security services during a month in custody.

Syrian state TV reported that Hamza was hit by three bullets outside the military complex where he was protesting. There was a delay in returning the body because his identity was unknown, the government-sponsored station stated.

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But a video posted on YouTube showing his beaten corpse has sparked international condemnation and become a rallying cry for Syria’s protesters, who shouted this week: “We are all Hamza al-Khateeb.”

It is difficult to look at his injuries and not think about what he endured — the boy’s face is purple and swollen; there are bullet and burn marks on his chest. A narrator states that his kneecaps were also shattered and his penis severed.

“I have a child who is exactly that age and I just cannot comprehend the cruelty. It is so hitting home,” said Abdalla Rifai, of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. The Washington-based non-profit group was established to support the “democratic aspirations of Syrians” and is suing Assad’s regime in U.S. courts for human rights abuses.

“This is the picture of the revolution right now. Some people have been sitting on the sidelines and saying, ‘No, no, no. Bashir [Assad] is going to reform, going to change things.’ But now we’re starting to see more people making statements,” Rifai said Wednesday.

Protesters say at least 25 children are among the 1,000 dead as a result of the government’s crackdown. A 12-year-old was shot dead Saturday when her school bus came under fire and an 11-year-old was killed as her town was shelled Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said she was “very concerned” about Hamza’s death, telling reporters, “I think what that symbolizes for many Syrians is the total collapse of any effort by the Syrian government to work with and listen to their own people.”

Syrian authorities attempted Wednesday to quell the rising anger and announced a full investigation into Hamza’s death as well as amnesty for hundreds of political prisoners. But the concessions were widely regarded as too little, too late, for Assad’s regime.

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Hamza’s death is being compared to that of Tunisian fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, whose self-immolation in January ignited the revolutions across the Middle East and Northern Africa, known collectively as the Arab Awakening or Arab Spring.

But some feel a more apt comparison is to Iranian pro-democracy demonstrator Neda Agha Soltan — the young woman who was shot dead protesting the disputed Iranian presidential election two years ago. While her killing also caused an international firestorm, it ultimately failed to bring political change.

“It will be a galvanizing moment . . . but I don’t think it will be a turning point, as it was in Tunisia and elsewhere,” said David Lesch of Texas’s Trinity University and author of The New Lion of Damascus, a biography of Assad.

“Ultimately the regime in Syria — as the regime in Iran had — they have the oppressive tools of the military security apparatus to put down the uprising, in the short term at least.”

Lesch, who met frequently with Assad between 2004 and 2009, said the torture allegations could prove more significant as a high-profile example of human rights abuses, when the threat of criminal sanctions looms over Assad’s regime.

Human Rights Watch issued a report Wednesday based on more than 50 interviews with victims and witnesses and argues that Syrian authorities could be charged with crimes against humanity. It is urging the International Criminal Court to indict if the bloody oppression continues.

“It adds to the growing characterization of Assad and his inner circle of supporters as an outlaw regime,” Lesch said. “This creates another layer of pressure by the international community against the Syrian leadership . . . hoping, perhaps against hope, that Assad will finally be compelled to end the violence against the protesters and engage in serious, systemic political reform.”

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